The Jakarta Post, Surakarta Central Java, Friday November 28 2014
A teenage victim of sexual assault allegedly committed by the Surakarta palace ruler, has given birth to a baby boy at a hospital in the city and is demanding Pakubuwono XIII take responsibility.
“Obviously, we will continue with the case when the victim has regained her health and we are ready, if our client has to undergo a DNA test,” the victim’s lawyer Asri Purwanti said Thursday.
The victim delivered the baby on Tuesday at around 4 a.m. by Caesarian section as the girl could not stand the pain of a normal delivery.
Despite the unclear status of the case, the victim’s family was grateful for the birth of the baby, which has yet to be named. The health of the victim during her pregnancy was often poor as she still had to undergo police examination, but it has not affected the baby’s health.
The total cost was covered by the government, as the lawyer had intentionally registered the victim as a Social Security Management Agency (BPJS) recipient. The new mother will be allowed to return home Friday and will live with her aunt, a seamstress. They will jointly care for the child.
Asri is currently waiting for Pakubuwono to be examined by independent doctors not picked by the palace or police, although the request has been rejected by the palace’s lawyer.
The request was related to Pakubuwono’s failure to fulfill a police summons on Oct. 10 on the grounds of ill health.
On Oct. 10, the Sukaharjo Police had scheduled an examination and confrontation in separate rooms between the victim, identified as AT, and Pakubuwono. However, Pakubuwono did not attend, so the police decided to go to the Surakarta palace to examine Pakubuwono as a witness in the case.
“We actually met with Pakubuwono, but since he was sick we did not examine him,” said Sukaharjo Police Crime and Intelligence Unit chief First Insp. Frans Delanta Kembaren.
Frans said he and his team were only able to ask one question before the examination was stopped because Pakubuwono’s health was deemed weak. The police also confirmed the matter with a doctor at Gatot Subroto Hospital in Jakarta who was treating him. The examination has been postponed until further notice.
The case, which was reported in July this year, could yet implicate Pakubuwono. The police have only named a suspect, with the initials WT, who played a role as mediator between AT and Pakubuwono.
Jakarta resident Ninin Damayanti, who created a petition on the change.org website, urged the National Police to immediately follow up on the case by examining Pakubuwono, believed to have raped a minor until she became pregnant. As many as 23,826 people have signed the online petition.
Earlier, in 2012, Pakubuwono was also accused of raping two children, with the initials F and T, in Karanganyar, Central Java. However, the Karanganyar Police only accused Kristin Rahayu, 23, who acted as a pimp, of violating the human trafficking law, which carries a two-year sentence and a Rp 200 million (US$16,434) fine.
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vr 28 nov 2014 - 8:07